Ex-Hermosa Beach police officer charged with soliciting sex with minor

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A former Hermosa Beach police officer was arrested in East Los Angeles for trying to meet with and have sex with a person he believed was a 16-year-old girl, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said.

Todd A. Lewitt, a former police officer with the Hermosa Beach Police Department, arranged a meeting to have sex with the person after making contact with her through an online dating website in late July, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said the 51-year-old man from Long Beach was arrested when he arrived in East LA at the meetup location arranged beforehand.

The woman in the sting was an undercover deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Human Trafficking Bureau.

Lewitt was charged Wednesday with one felony count of meeting a minor for lewd purposes. He faces a possible maximum sentence of four years in state prison if convicted as charged.

The Daily Breeze previously reported Lewitt faced multiple internal investigations while he was a police officer with the department, and was also the subject of an FBI probe into excessive force.

The case is still under investigation.